Who Did It? — Unofficial "Challenge" (Non-V+ Welcome!)

This is not a real challenge in that it doesn't require you to publish a new piece. It's more of a game we can play together.

A few months ago, Raymond G Taylor wrote a riddle for the community to solve by piecing together clues from his story "Out of Oblivion", and it was a blast to play along. I'm not as creative as Raymond, so there are no easter eggs to hunt in my stuff, and I won't write you any riddles.

But I still want to play!

So... a few weeks ago I posted a story revolving around a bit of a mystery.

Can you solve it?

Rules:

1. Guess who did it, how, and why.

2. Comment on this post with your explanation before Wednesday, 21st of November, 23:59 (Your Time Zone). One guess per person. You can change your mind and ask me to disregard a previous comment... at your own risk!

3. I'll read all comments on Thursday the 22nd, around my second coffee, and write a post with the solution and reward the winners a little afterwards.

I will award 1 USD to the first three who guess it "right", and 2 USD to the most creative answer (be it "right" or "wrong").

If somebody manages to unearth all the clues I put in there and still surprise me with the "wrong" outcome, they will get 5 USD instead.

Vocal+ members will receive the payment through Vocal tips.

Non-V+: You are kindly invited to create and share an account where I can safely tip you (check out: Ko-fi, Buy me a coffee, Gumroad, Fourthwall, Patreon, and Payhip). If you are unable to set up one of these services, I am willing to send you an Amazon gift card as a last resort. If you cannot agree to any of these options, nor have any ideas of your own that I can agree to (there will be no PayPal or bank transfers), you will be paid only in bragging rights.

That's it!

Would you like to play?